Evening Republican, Volume 18, Number 82, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 6 April 1914 — YOUNG PLAYERS EXCEL [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

YOUNG PLAYERS EXCEL

REASON WHY AMERICAN LEAGUE LEADS OLDER RIVAL.

Sentiment Seems to Cause Nationals to Keep Old Stars in Regular Lineup—Comparison of Roster .* Is Quite Interesting.

(By FRANK G. MENKE.) Because they persist in hanging on to their veterans long after their real usefulness is gone—that’s the reason why the National the classiest organization in baseball has had to yield first place to the American league. There has been no denying of the fact that for the past four years the American league teams have had it “on” their National rivals. The American leaguers have bqen triumphant in the last four World series combats, and in the majority of post-season games between the Americans and Nationals the teams of the younger organization have been triumphant. In 1913 the American leaguers were winners in every series in which they engaged vidth the Nationals. A glance through the baseball records shows the reason. The American league keeps a star player as long as he performs in major leaguebut not one day longer. They cut him adrift when he starts to skid and supplant him with new blood —bring to the fore some youngsters who soon shine just as brightly as did the stars of old.

With the National league it is different. Sentiment seems to cause them to keep in the regular lineup many old stars long after they have slowed up—long after added years has robbed them of their former prowess and made them inferior to the youngsters who are camping on the benches waiting to break in. Looking over the 1904 records of the American league, and comparing the rosters of those days with that of 1914, shows that only five men of the 400 odd, then in that league, are still in American league harness. Those men are Lajoie and Turner of the Naps, Crawford of the Tigers, and Bender and Plank of the Athletics.

Stovall, who joined the Naps back in 1904, was with the St. Louis Browns until last fall, and now is with the Federals. Harry Davis, a star in 1904, is still on the Athletic payroll, but he plays no longer. Jimmy Callahan,

now manager of the White Sox; Clark Griffith, now manager of the -Senators, and Nick Altrock, coacher, are the only players who played in 1904 who still are drawing salaries from the American leqg'ie. But it’s adbit different with the National league, which carried and played regularly In 1913 nearly 25 men who were in the game in 1904, and even earlier than that date. Included in this list are Wagner, Bresnahan, Mathewson, Ames, Gamnltz, Huggins, Evers, McCormick, Wiltse, Needham, Dooin and McLean.

Glancing over the 190 SF rosters of the American and National leagues, and comparing them with the present ones, shows that the Nationals still have nearly 70 men in their lineups who were there in 1909, while the Americans have only abotft 40. This means that the American Leaguers have weeded out the slipping stars of the other days, and that the National Leaguers have hung onto them—and lost considerable prestige thereby. It seems to be up to the National Leaguers to weed out the veterans and let the bench-warming kids ooze out into the spoLUght if they want to save themselves from slipping to a minor league status when compared with the speed boys of the American league. The new organization has forged ahead so rapidly in the past few years, has so closely outclassed the Nationals, that many skeptical fans are declaring that the Nationals today, despite their galaxy of stars, dp not rank superior to those of the first division teams in the class AA minor leagues.

Nap Lajoie.